Half-Life Fallout: XCOM - After Action Reports - Half-Life Fallout

I love reading after action reports of games I love, so here's my first attempt at my first Classic Ironman difficulty XCOM mission with HLF squad members. The game doesn't allow for re-naming during the first mission, so this is actually the second mission of the game. Also, I can't figure out how to upload screenshots taken from Steam, so this is text only. Please feel free to add your own!

Operation Forgotten Vanguard

Squaddies screechingringer (heavy), Drewism (sniper) and phool (assault) were rounded out with rookie City17 as they poured out of the Sky Ranger onto the awkwardly wide highway. Drewism set up behind an abandoned car to keep an eye on things with his sniper rifle as the rest of the squad spread out to make sure they didn’t start in an ambush. After waiting silently for several excruciatingly long seconds, they determined it was their turn to move and began slowly bounding from car to car, staying in cover and trying not to shit themselves.

phool was in front with a shotgun because their borderline retarded commander had a brain fart and didn’t give him an assault rifle. This oversight was noticed after phool disturbed two sectoids from molesting a corpse and realized he was out of range. Since he was the point man, everybody else was out of range as well. Including Drewism and his sniper rifle because apparently he sucks.

Everybody went into overwatch with a load in their pants, fully expecting to soon be a friend short. A sectoid skittered towards them and screechingringer had a small opportunity for a reaction shot. He missed. This freed Drewism from the label of being the most disappointing so far. The sectoid fired upon City17 but hit the car instead, setting it on fire. Thank God for small miracles.

City17, eager to prove himself to his ill-esteemed colleagues, flanked the leading sectoid and let out a successful burst from his much-more-useful-than-a-shotgun assault rifle. phool continued to be useless while awkwardly perched on a ladder for no good reason. Since nobody else could fire on the second sectoid and couldn’t get into decent cover, phool heroically ran across the trailer he had climbed upon and took out the remaining sectoid.

Sq. screechingringer sprinted to the seemingly safe cover of the car City17 had previously hid behind. It promptly exploded, as if on cue, instantly killing him. “My bad,” Commander Tickles thought. City17 began to panic, realizing it could have been him.

Once City17 properly emptied his bowels in the proper British fashion, he began to move forward. Drewism had already set up on top of the 18 wheeler, while phool was hiding behind one of its wheels. phool could hear something up ahead.

As City17 moved up, the movement of two sectoids to his left caught his attention, just as he reached cover. Cover from the front. Not from where the actual danger was. “Sonofabitch Tickles,” he thought. A quick retreat to better cover was his only option since drewism still sucked and couldn’t get a clear shot, and phool was less than useless at this range with his shotgun. And of course screechingringer and his heavy weapon were charred to a crisp.

The sectoids mind-merge, and one gets a clear shot at City17 despite the heavy cover. City would feel that one for awhile. phool sprinted back around the 18 wheeler to try and flank the sectoids while City limped around to do the same. Drewism went into overwatch on the off chance he decides to stop sucking so hard and open his goddamn sniper eyes.

HE DOES! He gets a reaction shot and...misses. Thanks, sniper. He slams another round in the chamber and takes better aim as the sectoid crouches behind the median wall. This one finds home in the alien skull, and Drewism has somewhat redeemed himself! One down, one to go.

As City and phool continue attempting to flank the remaining sectoid, they stumble upon two more. Now there are three of the little skittery bastards against a blind sniper, an injured rookie, and a guy with a fucking shotgun. This wasn’t looking good.

City doesn’t have a shot so he sprints to some better cover where he can’t get flanked. One of the sectoids takes a quick shot as he’s running and scores a hit. Shit, City is barely alive as he huddles behind the median wall. The sectoids move to finish him off. One fires and misses, while a second gets in a good covering position. The final sectoid runs out from cover and Drewism reacts, taking aim and squeezing the trigger. The shot glances off the support strut behind the sectoid, most likely startling it. It wasn’t enough to ruin the bastard’s aim, though, and City17 was soon hanging out with screechingringer, no doubt having a drink to Commander Tickles’ health.

Commander Tickles reassessed his rapidly dwindling options and decided to let the sectoids come to him. A shotgun and a sniper rifle were not going to be very helpful on an aggressive offensive.

Nothing happened. Sq. phool decided to leap over City17’s corpse and the median to try and stir up some trouble. It worked, attracting two new sectoids to the fray. That was not good. He did notice another trying to sneak around and flank him, which was good. He quickly sprinted back to where he had started. As a sectoid chased him around the big rig, Drewism took a shot and killed the creature. A self-satisfied smile crept across his lips as he ejected the shell casing. Another sectoid took this opportunity to introduce him to plasma. In the face. For critical damage. Drewism slumped over the side of the trailer. Sq. phool was now alone. With a shotgun. Against...too fucking many sectoids. “I hate you, Tickles,” he thought.

He ran back around the 18 wheeler again, trying to get the drop on at least something. Instead, a sectoid opened fire on him, blowing out part of the 18 wheeler trailer’s wall. phool decided that was as good a place as any to die, and could hopefully draw something into close quarters where his shotgun would be handy, so he sprinted inside.

A sectoid ran by and was quickly cut down. At least phool wasn’t going down without a fight. Another sectoid scurried into view, but was out of range of the shotgun. As phool adjusted his position, the sectoid opened fire and injured him. This was it. phool decided to go down in a blaze of glory. He jumped out of his hiding spot and was immediately fired upon again, but luckily this time the sectoid missed. phool returned fire, but missed as well. Another sectoid came out of nowhere and cut phool down with a few well-aimed shots from its plasma pistol. The pilot called back to base, “**** this noise. Commander Tickles sucks.”

That was awesome and well written! Kinda sucks I died but that's probably true to life!

Wish I got Xcom instead of dishonoured now :/

Blargh, I always forget to start writing my action reports... Nice job and great idea, DyingTickles!
I'll put one up at some point.

EDIT: Here we go, 1000 words of heroism. Quite a different tale from DyingTickle's aforementioned foray. Images in [brackets].



It was a peculiarly warm and sunny day in Eastern Germany as I was woken up by the alarm sounding throughout our subterranean Base. Calling us to save the planet for at least our 15th time since the creation of XCOM just three months ago. Honestly, in all the turmoil, I'd lost count of our sorties.

It wasn't a good time to be called on duty, as ironically our best support medics were still lying in the infirmary: Lt. Suicide 'Taco' Mission and Sgt. Randy 'Uluru' Gandy. Not to mention our finest Shotgun wielding hothead: Cpt. Dying 'Doomtits' Tickles.

After a very short hop in the Skyranger, we hit ground near a UFO Landing site at 6:53 PM, right in our German backyard. That's right, a landing site. Those Damn fly-boys didn't manage to shoot this one down.

Our 6 man squad fanned out as soon as we got our feet on the ground[1]. Sgt. Mister 'Lobster' Filament (so named for his penchant for pinkish heavy armour) rushed towards the alien craft to lure out unsuspecting invaders. Oh shit. Two Mutons[2], those will tear your head off in the blink of a pseudopod if you're not careful. This ins't going to be a good day.

Squaddie Michael Matta move forward into cover with Lt. Zee 'foetus' Bok, freshly transferred from Italy; flanked by Sgt. Cake Twentyone, nickname pending. Meanwhile, Recent transferee Lt. Eat 'SexyMan' Children heads eastward, to cover all the angles.
Three of them take shots at the same muton, crippling him, but he's still standing.
...'SexyMan', What a nickname for a woman.

The highest ranking officer in all of XCOM keeps his cool. He takes out his newly built laser sniper rifle and lines up the sights on one of the ugly Mutons, all without moving his body even an micron.
A shot and a miss...but as three thin men and five floater aliens appear[3], one of the latter tries to flank EatChildren. Major Guillermo 'Scrublord' Alves doesn't miss twice in a row[4]. 100% probability to hit at about 30 metres, a red beam flash, and the floater floats away into oblivion [5].

Meanwhile, the mutons are flanking Sgt. Filament's position[6]. She shrugs off the 4 damage, her carapace armour can take it. but now she's pinned down, and shoots her RPG in anger at two more floaters on the far side of 'Sexyman' EC. Their bodies turn to dust [7].
Matta uses the initiative to finish off the muton suppressing his squadmate Filament while the other muton is hiding away, but Matta misses[8]. Zeebok and EC try their luck, and all three miss[8]! At least EC has the sense to run back to better cover, away from that floater on the UFO's roof.
Come on now, Cake, only you can take out that muton, even it it means abandoning your cover! A risky gamble, but the muton goes down with a loud thud. Remind Cake21 to buy a beer to whoever invented holo-targeting!

In the 3rd turn, the alien's riposte is biting, yet surprisingly mild. The remaining Muton keeps his plasma fire on Mr_Filament, who's been unable to move to better cover. Yet she's still in good form, unlike Cake who is rewarded for his heroic action by a floater blast in his exposed chest.
fortunately. he is quickly avenged by Guillermo as the floater was out in the open like a sitting duck. Two kills in three turns, without ever moving his feet. Truly, he is the lord of all scrubs.
Finally moving out of sight of the brutish muton, Fil approaches the spaceship's main door while DrMatta and Zeebok switch their shotguns out for pistols and mow down the last floater, exposed atop the alien landing craft, with some help of Fil's heavy machine gun[10].

Cake inflicts some damage to the other Muton[9], but he's far from done for, we have to reinforce Twentyone's position if... dammit!
The thin men are coming out of the proverbial woodwork, but Mister 'Lobster' Filament expertly expected this extremity, and was prepared in ambush, deleting one of the two thin man aliens from existence[11] in a cloud of poisonous vapour, as that grotesque mimicry of a human being cockily ran outside through the UFO's front door.
The second thin man lies in cover on the other side of our hero lobster's small rock[12]. Interestingly just close enough to be subdued and captured alive, which happened faster than you could read it.

In one last glorious burst of machine fire, Cake finally exterminates the last of the mutons hiding behind his puny fallen tree. A pitiful tombstone for such a marvel of alien genetic engineering. there are no more enemies in sight, time to move into the UFO itself.

In the next turn, Major Alves finally leaves the starting position to catch up with the front line[13], while Matta moves close to our battered lobster to heal him, and Cake does the same to himself.
Those plasma weapons hurt...but in only a few days, our scientists will enable us to equip some of our own.

One last thin man unexpectedly rushes into the melee[14], and cripples Eat 'Sexy Man' Children. Mr Filament swiftly avenges him with his second capture of the day[15].

The rest of the aliens are still nowhere in sight as the full squad moves into the UFO. Tension is mounting. Beats in the action are not good for front-line soldiers, it gives them time to think[16]. EatChildren uses the squad's last medkit on herself, as one by one the alien craft's internal rooms are summarily broken into and deemed empty of immediate threats.
Only one room remains, and Lieutenant Zee 'foetus' Bok is ready to enter.
Blast! The Outsider alien found in every UFO was waiting just in the wrong pace at the right time, he has a clear shot on Zebok!
Expecting Zeebok's imminent death, Michael Matta and Mister Filament are rushed as far towards the core room as possible, disregarding cover. This was deemed to be a poor tactical move, as the Outsider alien moved himself to attack the exposed Matta, fortunately without killing him.
Zeebok is but two metres away as he fires his ARC[17], and the Outsider crumples into a single shard, ready to be safely transported to XCOM HQ.


'Operation blinding summer' has been an unmitigated success![18] 8 aliens fell under fire, two were blown to kingdom come and three were captured alive, including the ever elusive Outsider alien. More importantly, none of my precious HLF soldiers were permanently injured, and live to fight another day, right after a well deserved beer at the local Gasthaus![19]

Awesome! I still laugh every time I read my nickname in your game.

Woo, I was about as useful as in real life!

After action report for Operation "Devil's Sleep"

The team responded to an landed UFO in Nigeria. In an effort to bolster our ranks three less experience units were taken into the field with three veterans.
There was little intel on the UFO, but we believed it to likely be targets we encountered before. Unfortunately this estimation proved to be a great fault.
Once on the ground we encountered an new type of vessel, a cargo ship, who transported more than just cargo.

Our pilot set us down close to an entrance, inside we encountered two outsiders. Major Chan flushed one of them out of cover, which made it easy picking for our team sniper Corporal Charly Baltimore.
Rookie Delgado scored his first kill with the second outsider.
Carefully crawling forward it appeared as this early section (the bridge and engineering) was cleared.

All three doorways were covered by two members each. At first, the enemy kept hidden, but as our scout got sight down the central corridor it became clear that it wasn't just supplies this ship was carrying.
A Berserker, three Chrysalids and two Mutons offered fierce opposition, through defensive tactics and strategic retreats we were able to take care of two of the Chrysalids.
The Berserker targeted Major Chan, who thankfully survived the first blow. In a conjoined effort, Lt. Ripley and Maj. Chan retreated while damaging the Berserker. Unfortunately, it managed to catch up with the Lieutenant and pounded her to death, this gave Maj. Chan the opportunity to kill the beast.
The surviving Chrysalid moved in, but Cpl. Baltimore managed to kill it with her pistol.

Meanwhile two Muton elites had moved in on both rookies, while one Muton moved up as well. While one rookie sought the high ground, Rookie Delgado moved up to cover the central corridor. Unfortunately, the death of Lt. Ripley left him and Major Jane, panicked. This was all that the lone Muton needed to finish of the inexperienced soldier. Chan, at least managed to return the favor.

Having lost a third of our squad, we retreated back to the bridge and regrouped. Maj. Jane and Cpl. Baltimore took overwatch on the central corridor, while Chan and the other rookie crept forward.
On the left side of the ship they encountered a lone Muton Elite, which could do little against their combined effort. They then positioned themselves towards the central corridor from which noise emanated.
Here the team encountered a new mechanical (or cybernetic) alien. This hulking machine was accompanied by repair drones, a Muton and another Berserker. Maj. Jane managed to take care of the Berserker with two salvos form her heavy plasma rifle, while the rest focused on the new threat. The thing could take a lot of punishment and dealt it in turn. Luckily the shots they got in afterwards proved lethal to the machine.
Afterwards all that remained was to mop up the survivors.

Despite the losses, the mission can be counted as a success. Three of the four survivors got a promotion out of it, Major Jane getting the honor of being the first to make Colonel.
It also offered us the opportunity to scavenge the ship for some much needed materials and the opportunity to study a new alien threat.

Zeebok, on 13 October 2012 - 05:21 PM, said:

Typical Mexican.

phool: less than useless

Haha, that was great. Keep these coming

Bought the game thanks to all the positive fanaticism around it. Hopefully it finishes downloading before tomorrow...